Music heard on the Show:
"Compared to What": Les McCann & Eddie Harris
Podcast - Parts 1 & 2
By Otis Moss III:
A guide to uplift our spirits as we work for justice in these politically turbulent times—from Reverend Otis Moss, III, Senior Pastor at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and one of the country’s most renowned and beloved spiritual and civil rights leaders.
Available:
Simon & Schuster, publisher
A Call To Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This collection featuring Dr. King's "Where Do We Go From Here?" speech is available in book and audio.
This volume includes the text of his most well-known oration, “I Have a Dream”, his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, and Beyond Vietnam, a powerful plea to end the ongoing conflict. Contributors include Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, the Dalai Lama, and Clayborne Carson--Founder of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University.
Available:
Heard on the Show:
To get the new year off to a good start, I invited Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III to join me on this week's show. Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago--the congregation once pastored by the Obama family's minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright--Moss has a new book out: DANCING IN THE DARKNESS: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times.
In his surprising Foreword to the book, "Black Coffee Spirituality," Michael Eric Dyson shares the parable of a mother's lesson to her despondent daughter. (It's a wonderful introduction that, like the whole book, is an absolute must-read.) Demonstrating her point, the mother puts three different foods in boiling water: carrots, eggs, and coffee beans. Unlike the carrots that wilt or the eggs that become hardened, writes Dyson, "like the coffee bean, Black folks have added flavor and fragrance to a society often bitterly opposed to Black intelligence and humanity."
I began our interview by asking Rev. Moss how, when writing the book, he envisioned the situations faced by today's "carrots," "eggs," and "coffee beans" in these "turbulent times." He was as surprised by the question as I was heartened by his thought-provoking answer. So, too, by the poignant story behind his title, Dancing in the Darkness--a lesson he learned from his then-six-year-old daughter.